Preke - Sermons - 2021

10 I said, “In the prime of my life must I go through the gates of deathand be robbed of the rest of my years?”

11 I said, “I will not  again see the Lord himself in the land of the living; no longer will I look on my fellow man, or be with those who now dwell in this world.

12 Like a shepherd’s tent my house has been pulled down and taken from me.Like a weaver I have rolled up my life, and he has cut me off from the loom; day and night you made an end of me.

13 I waited patiently till dawn, but like a lion he broke all my bones; day and night you made an end of me.

14 I cried like a swift or thrush, I moaned like a mourning dove. My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens. I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!”

15 But what can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul.

16 Lord, by such things people live and my spirit finds life in them too. You restored me to health and let me live.

17 Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

18 For the grave cannot praise you, death cannot sing your praise; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for your faithfulness. 

19 The living, the living - they praise you, as I am doing today; parents tell their children about your faithfulness.

20 The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord.

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"I'm very sorry, I can't give you much hope," says the doctor at the bedside. "You're very unlikely to get better." Delivering such news is what I imagine to be the hardest part of a doctor's or professional life. In the biblical text we heard in the reading, it is King Hezekiah who receives this prognosis. Hezekiah lived in Jerusalem at the end of the 8th century BC. For almost 30 years he was king of Judah. According to the biblical accounts, he was pious and God-fearing. He worked to ensure that only one God, the God of Israel, was worshiped in his land. In short, Hezekiah was one of the good guys. But living a life in harmony with God was and is no guarantee of health. This is the experience Hezekiah has to make when one day he falls seriously ill. So seriously that in the end only the worst is to be feared. At forty. In the middle or better: at the height of his life. That does not help him now. Even a young or relatively young age is no guarantee that one will remain healthy. 

Hezekiah is sick, and his illness cannot be stopped. It continues to progress. His strength dwindles from day to day. Until nothing works anymore. Until his sickbed becomes a deathbed. Until in the end his life hangs by a thread. "I have woven my life to the end like a weaver," writes Hezekiah in his very candid and personal retrospective. "He cuts me off from the thread!" This refers to the last thread that is cut when a cloth is finished being woven. It is the last connection to the loom. If this last thread is cut, the cloth can no longer be woven. No more thread will be added. 

Thus, Hezekiah believes he is at the end of his life. At the same time, he is obviously in great pain. Completely crushed, he can no longer even scream or call out. Debilitated, his voice sounds like the "twittering of a swallow or the cooing of a dove." (v. 14) Only with his eyes can he plead and ask for help. Whoever has accompanied dying people in his life knows what Hezekiah is writing about. Of the pain all over his body, of gurgling gasps, of pleading eyes. Hezekiah directs them longingly toward heaven. "Lord, I am in distress. Intercede for me. ... Let me live!" (vv. 14.16) his eyes pray. Yet he knows that God alone is the one who can help him now. He is his last hope. God alone is Lord over sickness and healing. Sickness was and is a place of encounter with God. This has not changed until today. To this day we know ourselves thrown upon God as the one who gives and grants life - or not. God does not let us look at his cards. 

At the same time, Hezekiah's physical hardship becomes a reason to reflect on his life. He remembers his life. He remembers his successes, but also his failures and sins. Is he perhaps also looking for the reason for his situation? Was he himself to blame for his serious illness? Has he incurred guilt for which he is now being punished? Neither the Old nor the New Testament recognizes an automatic connection between guilt and illness. And this connection is not made in Hezekiah's case either. Hezekiah is not seriously ill and dying because he has made mistakes or because he is not at peace with God. On the contrary. Hezekiah, even as he is dying, trusts in God who forgives and loves and saves. He knows, "You cast all my sins behind you!" (v. 17) Hezekiah knows that he will be at peace with God when he dies. He can go away with no unpaid bills. Without a troubled conscience. God himself has thrown behind him everything that could disturb his relationship with God.

Thus, Hezekiah has finished with everything. He feels he is on the threshold of the realm of the dead and awaits his death. "Descended into the realm of death," we confess in the Apostles' Creed to this day. Life means having a relationship with God. Death means lack of relationship and separation from God. In the world of the dead, the praise of God no longer finds a place. "Only the living can praise you!" (v. 19), Hezekiah knows. Does he want to convince God that he will no longer be able to praise him in the realm of the dead? 

And at the same time, Hezekiah is completely desperate. It is the very last straw to which Hezekiah clings. Did God change his mind with this? We do not know. But what we do know is: Hezekiah did not die! In the very last second, when everything seemed to be over, Hezekiah is miraculously healed. God hears his prayer, his supplication and his plea. God gives Hezekiah 15 more years of life.

Hezekiah was not the only one surprised. It attracted national and international attention. And the fact that we are still talking about his illness and his healing after several millennia shows that something rare, something special happened here. Until today. Because: Yes, even today there are these rare moments of miraculous healing. That people get up again from their deathbed and return to life. That God miraculously sustains life against all medical odds. There is and always will be hope. I may hope with Hezekiah that God can do miracles. That he has possibilities that exceed my imagination, my thinking and my doing.

At that time, at least, God gave Hezekiah the gift of health. To continue weaving his life. And Hezekiah can hardly believe his good fortune. He knows exactly to whom he owes it. "The Lord has helped me!" (v. 20), he sings at the end of his prayer. He wants to thank God for it, to "sing and play to him as long as we live in the house of the Lord." (V. 20) Today, Hezekiah invites us to join in his praise. To rejoice with him and thank God for the life he has given him.  It is a song of praise for life. We should sing it every day. To God who gives me life. Perhaps it is only when we have gone through illnesses, overcome therapies, experienced support, felt God's closeness that we really learn to appreciate this value. 

To be grateful for every day that he gives me. That I may experience health. That is anything but a matter of course! Nevertheless, doctors will always find themselves in the situation of having to deliver a sad diagnosis to a patient. But even if God's miracle of healing fails to materialize, my path does not lead me into the realm of death. When my life is hanging by a thread and I have the feeling that my life has come to an end, then I may see another thread that God has woven into my life. This thread is called Jesus Christ. Woven with me. Like me in life and death. He knows my fears, my illness, my distress. They had also cut off his thread of life on Golgotha back then. But God did not leave him in death. And he will not leave us in death either. For this Jesus Christ died and rose again. He gives me hope to live through him and with him forever in God's glory.